Read Chapters 4 and 6 as assigned reading during Week 4 of the fall/winter elective War at Sea in the Age of Steam while at the NWC. I honestly do not remember much of what I read. This was a very dull and boring read for me at the time. These assigned chapters covered the years leading up to WWI and the reforms and strategic planning going on in the Navy at that time.

Fascinating book!! If you have any interest in the British Navy in the pre-WWI period, or of naval strategy in that same period this is the book for you. I learned a great deal about the politics of the British government and the Navy establishment from this book. Jacky Fisher was his own man during this period. He had a vision of what the Grand Fleet should be in the next war. Most pre-war volumes deal with the naval arms race bewteen Britian and Germany as a concious effort. However, this book argues differently (at least initially). Without giving too much away, the issues come down to submarines and destroyers vs battleships, and flotilla defense vs fleet actions. The final decision was.....well the First World War intervened and the rest is history. Read the book, it is one the best on this subject I have come across.

If you are interested, you should also read 'Tirpitz and the Imperial German Navy' either before or after reading this book. It is a biography of Admiral Tirpitz, but it is very much related to the book reviewed here. ( )